Equations for obtaining melting points for the ternary system ethylene glycol/sodium chloride/water and their application to cryopreservation

Method development and analysis of the water content of the maximally freeze concentrated solution suitable for protein lyophilisation

During freeze-drying of a liquid formulation, a freeze-concentrate is formed in the first phase, the freezing step. Understanding the composition of the maximally freeze concentrated solution can help to judge the process stability of biopharmaceuticals during lyophilisation. Our objective was to develop a suitable method to determine the water content of the maximally freeze concentrated solution using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Three different methods were compared: (i) the intercept of the glass transition temperature of the maximally freeze concentrated solution T_g' and the melting temperature T_m for a concentration series, (ii) the linear regression of the melting enthalpy starting from the onset of T_g' until the end of the melting event for a concentration series, and (iii) a one-point determination of the amount of unfrozen water. While Method 1 is accurate but requires the analysis of a high number of samples, Method 3 requires only one single sample, with a loss of accuracy. Method 2 works best taking sample preparation and accuracy into account. Various systems containing sugar (sucrose, trehalose) and other excipients (histidine buffer, phosphate buffer, sodium chloride, arginine hydrochloride, arginine citrate) were evaluated with different antibody concentrations to evaluate the composition of the maximally freeze concentrated solution. The freeze concentrates exhibited a water content of 20-30%, slightly dependent on the excipients, but independent of the antibody concentration. The methodology we developed is broadly applicable for the analysis of the composition of maximally freeze concentrated solutions and can help to elucidate protein stability during lyophilisation.

Comparison of non-ideal solution theories for multi-solute solutions in cryobiology and tabulation of required coefficients

Thermodynamic solution theories allow the prediction of chemical potentials in solutions of known composition. In cryobiology, such models are a critical component of many mathematical models that are used to simulate the biophysical processes occurring in cells and tissues during cryopreservation. A number of solution theories, both thermodynamically ideal and non-ideal, have been proposed for use with cryobiological solutions. In this work, we have evaluated two non-ideal solution theories for predicting water chemical potential (i.e. osmolality) in multi-solute solutions relevant to cryobiology: the Elliott et al. form of the multi-solute osmotic virial equation, and the Kleinhans and Mazur freezing point summation model. These two solution theories require fitting to only single-solute data, although they can make predictions in multi-solute solutions. The predictions of these non-ideal solution theories were compared to predictions made using ideal dilute assumptions and to available literature multi-solute experimental osmometric data. A single, consistent set of literature single-solute solution data was used to fit for the required solute-specific coefficients for each of the non-ideal models. Our results indicate that the two non-ideal solution theories have similar overall performance, and both give more accurate predictions than ideal models. These results can be used to select between the non-ideal models for a specific multi-solute solution, and the updated coefficients provided in this work can be used to make the desired predictions.

Application of the multisolute osmotic virial equation to solutions containing electrolytes

The prediction of multisolute solution behavior of solutions containing electrolytes is important in many areas of research, including cryopreservation. In this study, the use of a novel form of the osmotic virial equation for multisolute solutions containing an electrolyte is investigated and compared to a rigorous electrolyte solution theory, the Pitzer-Debye-Huckel equation. For aqueous solutions containing a small molecule (either dimethyl sulfoxide or glycerol) and sodium chloride, the multisolute osmotic virial equation, which utilizes only two parameters to capture the electrolyte solution behavior, is shown to be as accurate as the Pitzer-Debye-Huckel equation, which utilizes six empirical parameters and multiple functions to capture the electrolyte solution behavior. In addition, an approach based on the multisolute osmotic virial equation to investigate the effect of electrolyte concentration on macromolecule solution behavior is presented and applied to aqueous solutions of hydroxyethyl starch and sodium chloride. The multisolute osmotic virial equation is shown to be an accurate, straightforward predictive solution theory for important multisolute solutions containing electrolytes.

Direct concentration measurements of the unfrozen portion of solutions under freezing

Phase diagrams of solutions consisting of cryoprotective agents (CPA) are very useful in cryobiology research. Those diagrams depict the points of solution concentrations at corresponding temperatures: one of essential inputs that can be utilized to compute the volume response of cell under freezing process. However, generating such plots is costly and time-consuming. A direct method is proposed in this study to determine the solution concentration of unfrozen parts at multiple sub-zero temperatures. Measurements of binary solutions, composed of water and sodium chloride, were performed and compared with published data. Ternary solutions, consisting of water, sodium chloride and dimethyl sulfoxide, were also measured. The uniqueness and advantage achieved through the usage of this method are demonstrated when phase diagrams of complex cryopreservation solutions (CryoStor solutions including CryoStor Base and CryoStor 10) are generated. The temperature range where the method is utilized is either limited by the osmometry (0-3200 mmol/kg) or by the availability of liquid samples at sub-freezing temperatures. Modified methods will be required to address the limitation of osmolality measurements and the availability of sub-freezing liquid samples at lower temperatures.

Determination of the quaternary phase diagram of the water-ethylene glycol-sucrose-NaCl system and a comparison between two theoretical methods for synthetic phase diagrams

Characterization of the thermodynamic properties of multi-solute aqueous solutions is of critical importance for biological and biochemical research. For example, the phase diagrams of aqueous systems, containing salts, saccharides, and plasma membrane permeating solutes, are indispensible in the field of cryobiology and pharmacology. However, only a few ternary phase diagrams are currently available for these systems. In this study, an auto-sampler differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) was used to determine the quaternary phase diagram of the water-ethylene glycol-sucrose-NaCl system. To improve the accuracy of melting point measurement, a "mass-redemption" method was also applied for the DSC technique. Base on the analyses of these experimental data, a comparison was made between the two practical approaches to generate phase diagrams of multi-solute solutions from those of single-solute solutions: the summation of cubic polynomial melting point equations versus the use of osmotic virial equations with cross coefficients. The calculated values of the model standard deviations suggested that both methods are satisfactory for characterizing this quaternary system.

Application of the osmotic virial equation in cryobiology

The multisolute osmotic virial equation is the only multisolute thermodynamic solution theory that has been derived from first principles and can make predictions of multisolute solution behaviour in the absence of multisolute solution data. Other solution theories either (i) include simplifying assumptions that do not take into account the interactions between different types of solute molecules or (ii) require fitting to multisolute data to obtain empirical parameters. The osmotic virial coefficients, which are obtained from single-solute data, can be used to make predictions of multisolute solution osmolality. The osmotic virial coefficients for a range of solutes of interest in cryobiology are provided in this paper, for use with concentration units of both molality and mole fraction, along with an explanation of the background and theory necessary to implement the multisolute osmotic virial equation.

Relationship between intracellular ice formation in oocytes of the mouse and Xenopus and the physical state of the external medium--a revisit

We have previously reported that intracellular ice formation (IIF) in mouse oocytes suspended in glycerol/PBS solutions or ethylene glycol (EG)/PBS solutions and rapidly cooled to -50 degrees C or below occurs at temperatures where a critical fraction of the external water remains unfrozen [P. Mazur, S. Seki, I.L. Pinn, F.W. Kleinhans, K. Edashige, Extra- and intracellular ice formation in mouse oocytes, Cryobiology 51 (2005) 29-53; P. Mazur, I.L. Pinn, F.W. Kleinhans, The temperature of intracellular ice formation in mouse oocytes vs. the unfrozen fraction at that temperature, Cryobiology 54 (2007) 223-233]. For mouse oocytes in PBS or glycerol/PBS that fraction is 0.06; for oocytes in EG that fraction was calculated to be 0.13, more than double. The fractions unfrozen are computed from ternary phase diagrams. In the previous publication, we used the EG data of Woods et al. [E.J. Woods, M.A.J. Zieger, D.Y. Gao, J.K. Critser, Equations for obtaining melting points for the ternary system ethylene glycol/sodium chloride/Water and their application to cryopreservation., Cryobiology 38 (1999) 403-407]. Since then, we have determined that ternary phase diagrams for EG/NaCl/water synthesized by summing binary phase data for EG/water NaCl/water gives substantially different curves, which seem more realistic [F.W. Kleinhans, P. Mazur, Comparison of actual vs. synthesized ternary phase diagrams for solutes of cryobiological interest, Cryobiology 54 (2007) 212-222]. Unfrozen fractions at the temperatures of IIF computed from these synthesized phase diagrams are about half of those calculated from the Woods et al. data, and are in close agreement with the computations for glycerol; i.e., IIF occurs when about 92-94% of the external water is frozen. A parallel paper was published by Guenther et al. [J.F. Guenther, S. Seki, F.W. Kleinhans, K. Edashige, D.M. Roberts, P. Mazur, Extra-and intra-cellular ice formation in Stage I and II Xenopus laevis oocytes, Cryobiology 52 (2006) 401-416] on IIF in oocytes of the frog Xenopus. It too examined whether the temperatures of IIF were related to the unfrozen fractions at those temperatures. It also used the Woods et al. ternary phase data to calculate the unfrozen fractions for EG solutions. As reported here, once again the values of these unfrozen fractions are substantially different from those calculated using synthesized phase diagrams. With the latter, the unfrozen fractions at IIF become very similar for EG and glycerol.

Intracellular ice formation in mouse oocytes subjected to interrupted rapid cooling

The formation of ice crystals within cells (IIF) is lethal. The classical approach to avoiding it is to cool cells slowly enough so that nearly all their supercooled freezable water leaves the cell osmotically before they have cooled to a temperature that permits IIF. An alternative approach is to cool the cell rapidly to just above its ice nucleation temperature, and hold it there long enough to permit dehydration. Then, the cell is cooled rapidly to -70 degrees C or below. This approach, often called interrupted rapid cooling, is the subject of this paper. Mouse oocytes were suspended in 1.5M ethylene glycol (EG)/PBS, rapidly cooled (50 degrees C/min) to -25 degrees C and held for 5, 10, 20, 30, or 40 min before being rapidly cooled (50 degrees C/min) to -70 degrees C. In cells held for 5 min, IIF (flashing) occurred abruptly during the second rapid cool. As the holding period was increased to 10 and 20 min, fewer cells flashed during the cooling and more turned black during warming. Finally, when the oocytes were held 30 or 40 min, relatively few flashed during either cooling or warming. Immediately upon thawing, these oocytes were highly shrunken and crenated. However, upon warming to 20 degrees C, they regained most of their normal volume, shape, and appearance. These oocytes have intact cell membranes, and we refer to them as survivors. We conclude that 30 min at -25 degrees C removes nearly all intracellular freezable water, the consequence of which is that IIF occurs neither during the subsequent rapid cooling to -70 degrees C nor during warming.

The temperature of intracellular ice formation in mouse oocytes vs. the unfrozen fraction at that temperature

We have previously reported [Cryobiology 51 (2005) 29-53] that intracellular ice formation (IIF) in mouse oocytes suspended in various concentrations of glycerol and ethylene glycol (EG) occurs at temperatures where the percentage of unfrozen water is about 6% and 12%, respectively, even though the IIF temperatures varied from -14 to -41 degrees C. However, because of the way the solutions were prepared, the concentrations of salt and glycerol or EG in that unfrozen fraction at IIF were also rather tightly grouped. The experiments reported in the present paper were designed to separate the effects of the unfrozen fraction at IIF from that of the solute concentration in the unfrozen fraction. This separation makes use of two facts. One is that the concentration of solutes in the residual liquid at a given subzero temperature is fixed regardless of their concentration in the initial unfrozen solution. However, second, the fraction unfrozen at a given temperature is dependent on the initial solute concentration. Experimentally, oocytes were suspended in solutions of glycerol/buffered saline and EG/buffered saline of varying total solute concentration with the restriction that the mass ratios of glycerol and EG to salts are held constant. The oocytes were then cooled rapidly enough (20 degrees C/min) to avoid significant osmotic shrinkage, and the temperature at which IIF occurred was noted. When this is done, we find, as previously that the fraction of water remaining unfrozen at the temperature of IIF remains nearly constant at 5-8% for both glycerol and EG even though the IIF temperatures vary from -14 to -50 degrees C. But unlike the previous results, the salt and CPA concentrations in the unfrozen fraction vary by a factor of three. The present procedure for preparing the solutions produces a potentially complicating factor; namely, the cell volumes vary substantially prior to freezing: substantially greater than isotonic in some solutions; substantially smaller in others. However, the data in toto demonstrate that cell volume is not a determining factor in the IIF temperature.

Comparison of actual vs. synthesized ternary phase diagrams for solutes of cryobiological interest

Phase diagrams are of great utility in cryobiology, especially, those consisting of a cryoprotective agent (CPA) dissolved in a physiological salt solution. These ternary phase diagrams consist of plots of the freezing points of increasing concentrations of solutions of cryoprotective agents (CPA) plus NaCl. Because they are time-consuming to generate, ternary diagrams are only available for a small number of CPAs. We wanted to determine whether accurate ternary phase diagrams could be synthesized by adding together the freezing point depressions of binary solutions of CPA/water and NaCl/water which match the corresponding solute molality concentrations in the ternary solution. We begin with a low concentration of a solution of CPA+salt of given R (CPA/salt) weight ratio. Ice formation in that solution is mimicked by withdrawing water from it which increases the concentrations of both the CPA and the NaCl. We compute the individual solute concentrations, determine their freezing points from published binary phase diagrams, and sum the freezing points. These yield the synthesized ternary phase diagram for a solution of given R. They were compared with published experimental ternary phase diagrams for glycerol, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), sucrose, and ethylene glycol (EG) plus NaCl in water. For the first three, the synthesized and experimental phase diagrams agreed closely, with some divergence occurring as wt% concentrations exceeded 30% for DMSO and 55% for glycerol, and sucrose. However, in the case of EG there were substantial differences over nearly the entire range of concentrations which we attribute to systematic errors in the experimental EG data. New experimental EG work will be required to resolve this issue.

Extra- and intra-cellular ice formation in Stage I and II Xenopus laevis oocytes

We are currently investigating factors that influence intracellular ice formation (IIF) in mouse oocytes and oocytes of the frog Xenopus. A major reason for choosing these two species is that while their eggs normally do not possess aquaporin channels in their plasma membranes, these channels can be made to express. We wish to see whether IIF is affected by the presence of these channels. The present Xenopus study deals with control eggs not expressing aquaporins. The main factor studied has been the effect of a cryoprotective agent [ethylene glycol (EG) or glycerol] and its concentration. The general procedure was to (a) cool the oocytes on a cryostage to slightly below the temperatures at which extracellular ice formation occurs, (b) warm them to just below the melting point, and (c) then re-cool them to -50 degrees C at 10 degrees C/min. In the majority of cases, IIF occurs well into step (c), but a sizeable minority undergo IIF in steps (a) or (b). The former group we refer to as low-temperature flashers; the latter as high-temperature flashers. IIF is manifested as abrupt blackening of the egg, which we refer to as "flashing." Observations on the Linkam cryostage are restricted to Stage I and II oocytes, which have diameters of 200 300 microm. In the absence of a cryoprotective agent, that is in frog Ringers, the mean flash temperature for the low-temperature freezers is -11.4 degrees C, although a sizeable percentage flash at temperatures much closer to that of the EIF (-3.9 degrees C). When EG is present, the flash temperature for the low-temperatures freezers drops significantly to approximately -20 degrees C for EG concentrations ranging from 0.5 to 1.5 M. The presence of 1.5 M glycerol also substantially reduces the IIF temperature of the low-temperature freezers; namely, to -29 degrees C, but 0.5 and 1 M glycerol exert little or no effect. The IIF temperatures observed using the Linkam cryostage agree well with those estimated by calorimetry [F.W. Kleinhans, J.F. Guenther, D.M. Roberts, P. Mazur, Analysis of intracellular ice nucleation in Xenopus oocytes by differential scanning calorimetry, Cryobiology 52 (2006) 128-138]. The IIF temperatures in Xenopus are substantially higher than those observed in mouse oocytes [P. Mazur, S. Seki, I.L. Pinn, F.W. Kleinhans, K. Edashige, Extra- and intracellular ice formation in mouse oocytes, Cryobiology 51 (2005) 29-53]. Perhaps that is a reflection of their much larger size.

Extra- and intracellular ice formation in mouse oocytes

The occurrence of intracellular ice formation (IIF) during freezing, or the lack there of, is the single most important factor determining whether or not cells survive cryopreservation. One important determinant of IIF is the temperature at which a supercooled cell nucleates. To avoid intracellular ice formation, the cell must be cooled slowly enough so that osmotic dehydration eliminates nearly all cell supercooling before reaching that temperature. This report is concerned with factors that determine the nucleation temperature in mouse oocytes. Chief among these is the concentration of cryoprotective additive (here, glycerol or ethylene glycol). The temperature for IIF decreases from -14 degrees C in buffered isotonic saline (PBS) to -41 degrees C in 1M glycerol/PBS and 1.5M ethylene glycol/PBS. The latter rapidly permeates the oocyte; the former does not. The initial extracellular freezing at -3.9 to -7.8 degrees C, depending on the CPA concentration, deforms the cell. In PBS that deformation often leads to IIF; in CPA it does not. The oocytes are surrounded by a zona pellucida. That structure appears to impede the growth of external ice through it, but not to block it. In most cases, IIF is characterized by an abrupt blackening or flashing during cooling. But in some cases, especially with dezonated oocytes, a pale brown veil abruptly forms during cooling followed by slower blackening during warming. Above -30 degrees C, flashing occurs in a fraction of a second. Below -30 degrees C, it commonly occurs much more slowly. We have observed instances where flashing is accompanied by the abrupt ejection of cytoplasm. During freezing, cells lie in unfrozen channels between the growing external ice. From phase diagram data, we have computed the fraction of water and solution that remains unfrozen at the observed flash temperatures and the concentrations of salt and CPA in those channels. The results are somewhat ambiguous as to which of these characteristics best correlates with IIF.

Effects of hold time after extracellular ice formation on intracellular freezing of mouse oocytes

MII mouse oocytes in 1 and 1.5M ethylene glycol(EG)/phosphate buffered saline have been subjected to rapid freezing at 50 degrees C/min to -70 degrees C. When this rapid freezing is preceded by a variable hold time of 0-3 min after the initial extracellular ice formation (EIF), the duration of the hold time has a substantial effect on the temperature at which the oocytes subsequently undergo intracellular ice formation (IIF). For example, in 1M EG, the IIF temperatures are -23.7 and -39.2 degrees C with 0 and 2 min hold times; in 1.5M EG, the corresponding IIF temperatures are -29.1 and -40.8 degrees C.

A theoretically optimized method for cord blood stem cell cryopreservation

The objective of this study was to develop an optimal cryopreservation method for human umbilical cord blood hematopoietic progenitor cells as evidenced by improved retention of in vivo engraftment ability and multilineage differentiation. An extended understanding of the osmometric/permeability characteristics of cord blood stem cells was accomplished by measuring permeability of the cryoprotectant dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) at below-ambient temperatures (10 degrees and 3 degrees C). These data were combined with previously published osmotic and permeability data and the water-NaCl-DMSO phase diagram in conjunction with a mathematical model to determine an optimal initial DMSO concentration, cooling rate, and liquid nitrogen plunging temperature. Cells cryopreserved with the theoretically optimized procedure were then compared with cells frozen using standard methods for the ability to engraft in irradiated NOD/SCID mice. The optimal procedure was determined to include a 0.7 molal (approximately 5%) DMSO concentration at a cooling rate of 4 degrees C/min, and a plunging temperature of -44 degrees C. The optimized protocol resulted in significantly higher engraftment of human CD45(+) cells (17.2 +/- 1.6% vs. 8.4 +/- 1.6%), CD19(+) B lymphocytes (11.3 +/- 1.2% vs. 5.8 +/- 1.2%), and CD34(+) cells (1.9 +/- 0.09% vs. 0.6 +/- 0.09%) compared to cells frozen using a standard method. Engraftment of CD33(+) cells was not significantly different (4.0 +/- 0.3 vs. 3.2 +/- 0.6, respectively). This study demonstrated that the use of a theoretically determined optimal cryopreservation method is superior to standard methods for maintaining UCB PCBs with multilineage repopulation potential in NOD/SCID mice.

Mechanisms of cryoinjury in living cells

Biological metabolism in living cells dramatically diminishes at low temperatures, a fact that permits the long-term preservation of living cells and tissues for either scientific research or many medical and industrial applications (e.g., blood transfusion, bone marrow transplantation, artificial insemination, in vitro fertilization, food storage). However, there is an apparent contradiction between the concept of preservation and experimental findings that living cells can be damaged by the cryopreservation process itself. The challenge to cells during freezing is not their ability to endure storage at very low temperatures (less than -180 degrees C); rather, it is the lethality of an intermediate zone of temperature (-15 to -60 degrees C) that a cell must traverse twice--once during cooling and once during warming. Cryobiological research studies the underlying physical and biological factors affecting survival of cells at low temperatures (during the cooling and warming processes). These factors and mechanisms (or hypotheses) of cryoinjury and its prevention are reviewed and discussed, including the most famous two-factor hypothesis theory of Peter Mazur, concepts of cold shock, vitrification, cryoprotective agens (CPAs), lethal intracellular ice formation, osmotic injury during the addition/removal of CPAs and during the cooling/warming process, as well as modeling/methods in the cryobiological research.